Year 3

Our days, this past fortnight in Year 3, have been busy and fun and it has been lovely to observe new friendships forming as children settle into their new class groupings. Well done to our new children who have joined since the start of term; they have all settled very well and it already feels like they have been here much longer than a week or two. Thank you to all who stepped forward to share the class rep role. We are very grateful! 

There has been some healthy competition emerging, in terms of demonstrating ambition and control with writing. This is following the first writers chosen to have their work displayed on our writing board. Everyone has immersed themselves in all things sloth. There are many interesting details, which will feature in our ‘fun facts’ section, where we practise writing sentences that use exclamation marks. 

We have been busy building and developing our maths vocabulary which allows us to be precise in terms of how we describe numbers. The children are delighted in being able to use quite sophisticated, specialist terms with accuracy and ease. Well done everyone! 

We have continued our science learning about magnets, deepening our knowledge about forces. Each week, we have benefited from some fun, hands-on learning experiences which have brought our learning to life. Please keep your eyes peeled for any examples of magnets in daily life to discuss with your children. 

The music lessons for strings, as part of the school’s Wider Opportunities, have been going well. Children have been learning key skills and will have the chance to show them off at a year group concert for families in November. 

Coming up:  Next week, we will publish our non-chronological sloth reports and each class will have theirs featured as reference documents in the school library. In maths, we continue with securing place value, addition and subtraction and bridging to the nearest 10 and 100.

                                     

                               

                              

Key messages from the Year 3 team: 

• Please ensure your child brings their reading folders in with their reading record and books every Monday. 

• Please ensure that long hair is tied back each day. 

• Reading with parent helpers starts next week. Many thanks to those who have offered. If you would like to help, please ask your class reps or email the year group inbox. 

• Please practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s with your children to secure their Year 2 learning before we move on to 4s and 8s next half term. 

Key dates:

• Wider Opportunities, stringed instrument recital in November (date TBC)  

• Butser Farm trip, Wednesday 18th November – please note, early departure. Please see the forthcoming parent comms for details. 

 

Useful links: 

• This half-term’s learning bulletin contains the knowledge and skills that your child is being taught, key vocabulary and suggested activities/reads.  

• Year group spellings 

Year 4

What a fantastic couple of weeks it has been in Year 4! The children have settled brilliantly into their routines and shown real enthusiasm for their learning.  We had a great day out at the Wetland Centre - thank you to all the parents who supported this trip.

In our reading lessons, we recently finished The Firework-maker’s Daughter, which proved to be a favourite. The children particularly enjoyed bringing the characters to life through reading with expression and impressive characterisation. We have now moved on to The Barnabus Project in English, and the story has captured everyone’s imagination. Inspired by the book, the children created their own “imperfect pets” and are learning how to use pronouns to avoid repetition in their writing..

In maths, we are continuing to strengthen our understanding of place value (up to 10,000). The children have explored this concept in a variety of ways, using Dienes, counters, part-whole models and number lines. 

In science, the children have been learning how to classify vertebrates. They enjoyed working with classification charts to sort animals into different groups, showing great teamwork and reasoning. Meanwhile, in geography, we have been exploring the link between climate and biomes. The children have investigated how lines of latitude and proximity to the equator influence the world’s climate zones.

Our art lessons have been a real highlight, as the children have designed their own Islamic tiles. They have been fascinated by the use of repeating geometric patterns and symmetry, producing some stunning designs of their own.

In PSHE, children wrote thank you letters to the varied members of the Vineyard school community; it was great to share these with the staff involved.

Next week, we are looking forward to writing character descriptions for some of the imperfect pets in The Barnabus Project and we will focus on rounding in maths.

            

                             

 

Key messages from the Year 4 team: 

• Please bring in an apron for art lessons – working with clay.

• Please ensure your child has a healthy and delicious snack with them for break times!

• Please record five reading record comments per week, ready for checking on Mondays

 

Useful links: 

• This half term’s learning bulletin which contains the knowledge and skills that your child is being taught, key vocabulary and suggested activities/reads.  

• Link to Year 4 spelling lists.